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Why I need FOUR pairs of glasses in my 50s!

Well ain’t 50 grand? Just peachy. My eyesight is noticeably worse and I’ve become my mother! I used to think she was playing when she’d say she couldn’t read a label on a tin. “Read this for me, please?” she’d ask. “Oh come on!” I’d laugh. “How can you not read that?” Yeah well now I know.

I now wear 4 pairs of glasses on a daily basis!

For decades, I’d coasted along with two pairs of glasses for seeing long distance. I had one pair for driving when the sun isn’t too bright and for things like shopping and, you know, wanting to see things that aren’t right next to you! I had another tinted pair – sunglasses – for driving, being outdoors and even sitting in a cafe when sometimes, you’re the one looking into the glare opposite your friend. About 5 years ago, my eye test revealed that I could probably benefit from reading glasses. “Oh here we go,” I thought. Secretly, I didn’t mind the idea of how they looked; a little more studious, maybe even a tiny bit sexy? But the thought that I now had to consider three pairs of glasses in my daily plans was a bit annoying.

As I started wearing my readers every day, I realised I could no longer not wear them! How was I managing before? This is clear!

Fast forward to my most recent eye test and I was explaining to the optometrist that my reading glasses aren’t that great when I use my phone or read on my iPad in bed. “Of course not,” she started. “That’s because they’re meant for looking straight ahead and when you’re on your devices or reading a book, you’re looking down.” Oh, how remiss of me! Who knew there’d be different ways of looking through your glasses? I knew about bi-focals and those half-glasses over which a teacher or other person in authority would look down their nose at you. But I never thought I’d need two separate pairs for reading!

I present to you, my personal glasses collection …

I have to admit though, the device glasses are genius! I never knew how poor my eyesight was until I popped those babies on! They really do work better when you have to look down to read something.

When poor eyesight is a dangerous thing

Not being able to see properly is hazardous. You’re a danger to yourself and others when you refuse to wear glasses either out of vanity, inconvenience or denial. If you need glasses and don’t wear them, you should not be driving! Also, if you don’t wear your glasses when dosing your medicines, you only have yourself to blame if something happens. That brings me to an important point.

Why are medication expiry dates so hard to read?

Surely this is one of the most overlooked elements of medication packaging? Drug companies go to a lot of effort and expense to make their products tamper-proof but it’s virtually impossible for anyone over age 40 whose eyesight has worsened to read the expiry dates! Granted, if a medicine is out of date, it’s probably only going to be less effective, not toxic. But imagine if you were taking an antidepressant and you happened to find a box you’d misplaced some time ago and started taking those pills. A sub-therapeutic dose can be hazardous to health!

How to make the expiry date clearer to your eyes

When you really need to know this information, take a photo of it with your smartphone then open the photo and zoom in on it. You can zoom in without taking the photo but if your hands shake or if you really want to be sure, I would snap an image and blow it up. The below image is just of a tray of Mylanta tablets but don’t take chances with serious meds. Expiry dates on labels of bottles are just as bad. You can also do this to check the dosage, patient’s name and drug name. You do not want to be taking the wrong drug – or someone else’s drug – just because your eyesight has failed you.

When you can’t read the wine label

Mon dieu! Sometimes you want to know more about that delicious wine you’re drinking but you can’t read the label. Same trick applies.

How to increase the size of website text

Do you find yourself squinting while reading some websites? “Why don’t they make their text bigger?!!” you scream at the screen! Well, as infuriating as it is that website owners think their pixie-like wording is funky or cool, there is something you can do about it, and it’s easy.

Up in the very right hand corner of your screen, you’ll find 3 dots. In Google Chrome, they’re vertical dots, in Internet Explorer, they’re horizontal and in Mozilla Firefox, they’re not dots but 3 vertically-stacked little lines, like hyphens. In either, click and the menu will show a Zoom function. Click the + sign to the right of it and zoom in as much as you like. Everything on that website, not just the text, will be enlarged.

The chaos of having to use 4 pairs/types of eye glasses

I keep my device glasses on my bedside table because I use them every night to read before I go to sleep. I have two pairs in the car; the untinted and the sunglasses. I also have two pairs of computer reading glasses, one at my desktop PC at home and one in my laptop bag so I don’t forget them when I go to a client meeting. I also have my old untinted and old sunglasses at home so if I go out but don’t take my car, I’m set too. That’s 7 pairs of glasses I’m constantly juggling!! Now I’ve enquired about laser eye surgery but get this … they said my eyes aren’t bad enough to warrant the procedure! I came away feeling so deflated but then I read that sometimes, the procedure isn’t perfect and doesn’t solve all your eyesight woes. Also, you can only have one type of correction done so it would only eliminate one type of the glasses I wear. Come on science, catch up!

Grow longer arms or get yourself some glasses

If you’re finding that your eyesight is worsening and you can’t read the label on a garment to find out what size it is or the back of a pack to see what the ingredients are, you need glasses. Have you found yourself trying to read a shampoo or conditioner bottle in the shower without the benefit of additional light, glasses or a helpful person? Here are some of the things I find myself doing (even though I do have glasses):

Holding things at arm’s length to try and achieve better focus.

Squinting so hard I can barely see out of my eyes!

Putting the light on above the stove to read food labels.

Using the torch/flashlight function on my phone to see small print better.

Asking other people to read things for me.

Avoiding buying or using certain products because I couldn’t read what I needed to know.

Throwing things away (after a small tantrum) because I’m “too bloody old to read what it says!!!”.